Indian sports news wrap: March 21

GOLF

Tough day for Indian trio at Queen Sirikit Cup

The Indian trio of Zara Anand, Vidhatri Urs and Heena Kang endured a tough day as it dropped three places to be ninth in the team competition at the 44th Queen Sirikit Cup golf tournament in Christchurch on Thursday.

First round co-leader in the individual event, Zara (73-77) fell to 11th while Vidhatri (79-77) dropped from T-20 to T-26.

Heena Kang (85-76), on the other hand, climbed to 30th as against T-32 a day earlier as she shot the best score among the Indians on the second day.

Heading into the third round in the 12-nation championship, Australia’s Sarah Hammett with a 5-under 67 moved into top spot and a total of 141 total. She is five in front of second-placed Kim Shi-hyun.While Korea’s Lee Hyo-song, Kiwi Eunseo Choi and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Ping-hua are in a three-way tie for third place.

Among teams, Australia leads by three over Korea with Japan one further behind. Chinese Taipei are fourth and hosts New Zealand share fifth spot with Thailand on 297 followed by Indonesia (301), Singapore (304), Hong Kong and India (both 305), the Philippines 322 and Malaysia 326.

Zara failed to pick any birdies but hung in tenaciously on the challenging Clearwater Golf Club with just one birdie in the first 13 holes. She then dropped four bogeys in the last five holes and finished with 77.

Vidhatri had an action-packed round with three birdies, six bogeys and a double bogey. She managed just three pars on the front nine and another five on the return journey in her round of 77.

Heena had one birdie on the fifth, but after that she had three bogeys and a double for 76.

– PTI

BOXING

3rd Sub Junior National Championship: Boxers from UP and Maharashtra dominate on day two

Four boys from Uttar Pradesh and six girls from Maharashtra clinched victories on the second day at the 3rd Sub Junior National Championship at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida.

Gurdeep started the winning streak for Uttar Pradesh in the 37kg category against Vinjesh Kolar of Goa in a bout that ended with a referee stopping the contest in the third round. Devansh Yadav (49kg) and Pranjeet Singh (70+kg) earned identical 5-0 wins to further strengthen UP’s hold on the day.

Bhavya (61kg) faced a challenge from Telangana’s Mohammed Ur Rehman but managed winning the bout 4-1 margin.

Four boxers each from Steel Plant Sports Control Board, Manipur and Uttarakhand also entered the next round with a win.

Meanwhile, the girls category saw the domination of Maharashtra boxers with six of their boxers moving into the next round.

While Samrudhi Randeep (33kg), Samiksha Ghodeswar (37kg) and Shanaya (64kg) won their respective bouts with a unanimous 5-0 decision, Ishika Zambre (40kg) and Samruddhi Shinde (55kg) had to work hard to secure 4-1 victories against Andhra Pradesh’s Tejaswini and Goa’s Sidhi respectively.

Avantika Kewat (43kg) showcased an aggressive display as she did not break a sweat during her RSC win in the third round.

Four boxers from Telangana and Tamil Nadu also qualified for the next round on day two.

The semifinals and finals will be played on Sunday and Monday respectively.

– Team Sportstar